The Dawgfather drops in on Sark’s practice

Don James went to his first football practice of the Steve Sarkisian era at Husky Stadium Tuesday night. He looked terrific and sounded optimistic about the Dawgs’ chances this year.

“The team is better than what the new staff thought when they took over,” said James, the greatest coach in UW history.

The Dawgfather has seen Sarkisian speak at a few events and likes what he’s heard.

“I’m impressed with his enthusiasm and I’m impressed with the things he’s saying,” James said.

James was surprised at the Huskies’ 0-12 record last year, saying: “I never thought it would’ve happened.”

In his last four seasons, James, who was 153-57-2 at Washington, lost only nine games.
James said he can’t imagine what that must have been like for the Huskies last year. During one season when his team lost three in a row, he wasn’t sure if was going to live through it.

“It was brutal,” he said.

James said he would still be the same if he were coaching today, observing practices from a tower. “I wanted to see everything,” he said.

He coached for 38 years and said the toughest loss in his career came in the 1982 Apple Cup because “we were so much better” than the Cougars. Washington State, which was an 18-point underdog that day, won 24-20.

James, 76, marvels that one of his contemporaries, Joe Paterno, is still coaching Penn State at 82, saying: “If he’d learn how to golf and fish, he’d retire. I can’t imagine.”

James played in Jim Mora’s charity golf event at the Boeing Classic on Monday and recently shot a 78 on the Coyote Creek course at Willows Run in Redmond.